andPOP » Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett Is Russell Crowe’s Maid Marian?

Eva Lam — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:47:49 +0000

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Cate Blanchett is in final negotiations to play Maid Marian in Ridley Scott’s big-screen take on the Robin Hood legend.

The Oscar winner replaces Sienna Miller in the role after the latter exited the untitled project, which at one point was named “Nottingham,” late last year.

The title isn’t the only thing that’s changed about the movie since its inception two years ago. Russell Crowe, working once again with “Gladiator” director Scott, was originally attached to play the Sheriff of Nottingham as a good guy investigating a thief known as Robin Hood.

Now, he will now play Robin Hood himself in an epic adventure focusing on the origins of key characters, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie, budgeted at $130 million, will begin shooting in April in the U.K.

Blanchett can currently be seen in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” She also lent her voice to the upcoming “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a stop-motion animated film based on the children’s novel by Roald Dahl and directed by Wes Anderson.

Cate’s New Baby Makes Three

andPOP Staff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:15:23 +0000

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Dashiell, Roman.. and Ignatius.

Cate Blanchett didn’t stray from the unique baby name trend in Hollywood when she added a third son to her growing family.

The Oscar winner and her playwright husband Andrew Upton welcomed Ignatius Martin Upton, Sunday. The baby boy joins siblings Dashiell, 6, and Roman, 3.

“All are well and very happy,” said a rep for the Sydney Theatre Company, where Blanchett and Upton are coartistic directors, according to E! Online.

Blanchett, 38, had been showing off her growing baby-bump on red carpets all over the world during the recent awards show red carpet season.

The Australian actress will next star in the highly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in theaters May 22.

OSCAR Nods: Ellen Page, Sarah Polley, Jason Reitman

andPOP Staff — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:14:29 +0000

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It’s official: Ellen Page and her pregnant alter-ego “Juno” are Oscar worthy.

The film received nods in several category where it will be the only comedy competing against some huge, heavy-hitter dramas. 20-year-old Page is up against the likes of Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away From Her), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) and Laura Linney (The Savages) for Best Actress.

“Juno” is nominated for Best Picture against the critical favourites “Atonement,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood.”

Screenwriter Diablo Cody and Canadian director Jason Reitman also scored a nomination for “Juno.”

Sarah Polley will also be representing Canada at the awards. She was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for her film, “Away From Her.”

With so many fantastic performances, it will be especially hard to guess the winners this year. The Best Actor category is an exciting list: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) and Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley of Elah).

Other notable nominations are 13-year-old Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) and Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James?).

James McAvoy and Keira Knightley were noticably snubbed for their lead performances in “Atonement.”

Here is a complete list of the nominations:

BEST PICTURE
“Atonement”
“Juno”
“Michael Clayton”
“No Country for Old Men”
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”
Laura Linney, “The Savages”
Ellen Page, “Juno”

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd”
Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”
Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”
Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”
Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”
Hal Holbrook, “Into The Wild”
Tommy Lee Jones, “No Country For Old Men”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”
Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Jason Reitman, “Juno”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, “Juno”
Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Brad Bird, Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, “Ratatouille”
Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”
Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Sarah Polley, “Away From Her”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Beaufort” (Israel)
“The Counterfeiters” (Austria)
“Katyn” (Poland)
“Mongol” (Kazakhstan)
“12″ (Russia)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Persepolis”
“Ratatouille”
“Surf’s Up”

BEST ART DIRECTION
“American Gangster”
“Atonement”
“The Golden Compass”
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” Roger Deakins
“Atonement,” Seamus Mcgarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Janusz Kaminski
“No Country For Old Men,” Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood,” Robert Elswit

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Across the Universe,” Albert Wolsky
“Atonement,” Jacqueline Durran
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” Alexandra Byrne
“La Vie En Rose,” Marit Allen
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street,” Colleen Atwood

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“No End in Sight”
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience”
“Sicko”
“Taxi to the Dark Side”
“War/Dance”

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“Freeheld”
“La Corona” (“The Crown”)
“Salim Baba”
“Sari’s Mother”

BEST FILM EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum,” Christopher Rouse
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Juliette Welfling
“Into the Wild,” Jay Cassidy
“No Country for Old Men,” Roderick Jaynes
“There Will Be Blood,” Dylan Tichenor

BEST MAKEUP
“La Vie en Rose”
“Norbit”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Atonement”, Dario Marianelli
“The Kite Runner”, Alberto Iglesias
“Michael Clayton”, James Newton Howard
“Ratatouille”, Michael Giacchino
“3:10 to Yuma”, Marco Beltrami

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Falling Slowly” from “Once”
“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted”
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush”
“So Close” from “Enchanted”
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted”

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“I Met the Walrus”
“Madame Tutli-Putli”
“Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)”
“My Love (Moya Lyubov)”
“Peter & the Wolf”

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“At Night”
“Il Supplente (The Substitute)”
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)”
“Tanghi Argentini”
“The Tonto Woman”

BEST SOUND EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“No Country For Old Men”
“Ratatouille”
“There Will Be Blood”
“Transformers”

BEST SOUND MIXING
“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“No Country For Old Men”
“Ratatouille”
“3:10 to Yuma”
“Transformers”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Golden Compass”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
“Transformers”

Review: Notes on a Scandal

andPOP Staff — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:55:55 +0000

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Lies, deceit, blackmail, and raunchy rendezvous mixed with a Nabokovian twist set the tone in Richard Eyre’s Notes on a Scandal, out in theatres on Christmas Day.

The movie, based on a novel by Zoe Heller, tells the story through the eyes of Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) a lonely, soon-to-be retiree who falls for new-teacher-on the block Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett).

Their seemingly innocuous friendship appears to be a classic case of a veteran teacher taking a rookie instructor under her wing, showing her the ins and outs of a school plagued by under privileged students.

But things go terribly astray when Barbara discovers Sheba is having an affair with her 15-year-old art student (Andrew Simpson).

Barbara threatens to disclose her scandalous secret but changes her tune after Sheba delivers a candid confession.

Barbara convinces herself that Sheba will see her as a saving grace rather than an enemy and eventually the two will live happily ever after.

She records every moment in one of an interminable collection of notebooks stacked on her bookshelves.

I’m not sure what I found more disturbing about Richard Eyre’s picture – the salacious
acts between a teacher and her 15-year-old student or a delusional spinster who’s obsessed by her colleague-turned-confidante.

Dench delivers a convincingly superb performance as a regimented teacher who suffers from severe loneliness and borderline insanity.

Her astute portrayal as a lunatic doesn’t come as a surprise considering her (arguable) status as a living film legend.

If any actress can deliver a range of performances it’s Dench.

Take her roles as Queen Elizabeth (Shakespeare in Love), a reputable novelist (Iris) or M in the James Bond spy thrillers.

Cate Blanchett’s overall performance wasn’t as impressive simply because it wasn’t as believable.

Sheba’s married to Richard (Bill Nighy), a lecturer 20 years her senior. They have two children, Polly (Juno Temple) and Ben (Max Lewis), who has Down syndrome.

But she comes across as an older sister instead of a young mother.
The viewer can understand why Sheba snags the exciting prospect of copulating with a testosterone-filled teenager.

The vivacious carefree days of her youth have dissolved into a thankless routine that accompanies a tedious marriage.

However, Blanchett’s performance fails to transmit the sentient of boredom and loneliness that caused her character to walk off the straightened arrow.

The best way to describe this movie is Coronation St. meets Lolita and intersects with Misery.

3* out of 5*